


The Days of Ghost Hunting

by AkaUsa



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Gen, Rumors, Slice of Life, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkaUsa/pseuds/AkaUsa
Summary: There's a rumor someone saw a ghost in Ohtori but for Anthy, this is just a normal week.
Relationships: Himemiya Anthy & Shinohara Wakaba & Tenjou Utena
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	The Days of Ghost Hunting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notwisely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notwisely/gifts).



"Did you know? Did you know? I heard there's a ghost haunting the school."

The rumor had started like that, through the whisper of an upperclassman. Or maybe it had been someone's cousin that had passed on the information. In any case, the origin of the tale was already lost as boys and girls chatted in the classroom, some with excitement, others with annoyance. A few were faking disinterest but Anthy, by listening carefully, could easily tell their true thoughts from the tone of their voices.

Wakaba stood firmly in the enthusiastic camp but Utena was more dubious. She kept shrugging at the various theories of this game of telephone started by the mysterious ghost-sighting statement of an unknown bystander. Anthy didn't enter the discussion, seemingly keeping herself busy by knitting, but hearing everything nonetheless.

"What are you making, Himemiya?" Utena asked to change the subject.

"I was thinking of doing a sweater for Nanami, the weather has started to get chilly, after all."

Hearing that gave Utena a pause and her mouth twitched, like she hesitated between smiling or making a face.

"That's nice of you, not sure she'll appreciate it though. And isn't it much too small?"

"Oh", Anthy pondered as she looked down on her work, it seemed the perfect size for a chicken but now that she thought about it, her cow could also use something to keep her warm, "you're right, Miss Utena, I should try making another one."

Meanwhile, Wakaba had grown exasperated by Utena's attempts to avoid the ghost topic and was leaving them to discuss it with other classmates, complaining about her friend's lack of romanticism along the way.

"What's romantic about believing in ghosts?" Utena mumbled, looking at her go.

"Do you not believe in ghosts then, Miss Utena?" Anthy asked without gazing away from her needles.

Utena looked at her for a while, without saying anything. Anthy's strange questions often left her pensive like that, the easy answers that she may have wanted to blurt out suddendly seeming to be stuck in the back of her throat. Denying the possibility of the supernatural became difficult in the first place, once you had taken part in the duels and experienced all the mysticism that came with them. But since Utena had yet to cross the road of any ghost, as much as she knew, she couldn't believe in those either.

"I wonder", she ended-up settling on with another shrug, when Anthy's eyes finally moved to meet hers.

The teacher entered the classroom soon after that and the idle talk died down quickly as students sat down in their assigned seats. The rumor would wait for the end of classes to grow.

* * *

"I went to ask Miki and Juri about that ghost story, to get the opinion of some rational people on it", Utena mentioned as she started pulling slowly on the white cloth to try to unfasten one of the many knots.

Anthy did the same on the other end, very carefully. A pained whine came out from under it.

"Juri said it's just a rumor that comes back every year, but Wakaba thinks it didn't disprove anything and that the ghost has simply been there long enough for that. Geez, I can't believe it."

Giving the cloth another few tugs, Utena managed to make the bundle of knots look a bit more like sheets. The only remaining bump crawled to the opening and Chu-Chu reached out with a happy squeak.

"How did he even get stuck like that?" Utena asked as she poked softly at his cheek.

"I was hanging out the laundry when a big gust of wind took the sheets off, Chu-Chu tried to catch them but got caught up and flew away with it instead."

Anthy patted his head gently, before letting him run off to enjoy his freedom. Only a few seconds later though, he knocked the box containing Anthy's yarn balls, scattering them all over him.

* * *

The next day, the rumor had grown tenfolds, with many witnesses talking of a specter that flew around the school while letting out a dreadful cry. Like a storm, it took over the student body who could think of nothing else to gossip about. The photography club members lurked in every corner, hoping to get a good shot, and the theatre troupe was already planning a play centered around the event. Ghost hunting groups were even started, including one lead by Nanami, who repeated to anyone who would hear her that she was only doing this for the sake of the school's reputation and to disprove the rumors, as the student council president stand-in ought to do.

Wakaba looked through the windows at the students coming and going in a hurry. She was a bit disappointed she hadn't managed to see anything despite walking near some of the spots many classmates of hers had swore the ghost had appeared. Its white, spectral shape supposedly had flown in front of the very same window she currently stood next to. There was nothing special to see there today, of course.

Such bad luck made her feel like she wouldn't have a chance in finding the ghost even if she tried and she consoled herself by observing from afar the agitation that took over her peers. It at least had the merit to be easy to watch and somewhat entertaining. Utena and Anthy were hanging around with her, doing the same. It was a windy day, so staying inside seemed like the better choice in any case.

* * *

"Big news, big news!

At last, the identity of the ghost has been discovered!

It happened there, a fateful day at the school library. Just as the morning glow shone over the empty tables, a forgotten and old newspaper was found. 'Twas about a famous poetess, one of the first students of the school! This article tells it all.

Nostalgic for her maiden years and cherishing those days so much, she ended-up turning memories into poetry! Such love, such passion, her soul engraved in her writing!

Now dead and ghostly, she haunts the halls of her beloved school for eternity! Talk about big news!"

* * *

With this new reveal, students stormed the library in search of the woman's writings and more informations about her, fascinated by her life's story. And when all the related books were taken out, those willing to spend money rushed to the closest bookstores for a better chance of getting their hands on something.

Wakaba, frustrated over failing to get to the library in time, was considering going for the second option, until she learnt that Anthy just so happened to have borrowed one poetry collection of the rumored ghost, a few days before the events. She leaped from joy when Anthy lent it to her while explaining that she prefered to focus on her needle work right now, instead of reading.

Each line of poetry gave the captivated teenagers hundred of wild theories and ideas. Those words seemed to hint at an unrequited love that may have trapped her soul there. This sentence indicated she loved the garden behind the school grounds, meaning she could probably seen around there. That metaphor contained the truth behind one of the school's secrets. And the wild hunt began anew, with even more excitement.

Meanwhile, those who didn't care for ghost stories were left sighing and mumbling in annoyance, trying best as they could to avoid all this agitation by occupying themselves with something else. Around this time, Utena went to lend a hand to the basketball club more frequently than usual.

* * *

"I'm making shaved ice!" announced Anthy in a cheery tone as Utena came back from one such training sweaty and exhausted, which made the prospect of something cold quite appealing for once.

From the opened window, giggling and whispers could be heard, a few girls were roaming around their remote dormitary. Apparently, it had been discovered that the mysterious ghost had slept there decades ago, or so Wakaba had told them while coming for a visit, insisting on exploring all the unused rooms and cupboards.

"Geez, they never stop, do they?" Utena let out, half-jaded, half-amused.

Anthy asked what she meant, her hand steadily moving the handle of her manual ice shaver.

"Having fun with their romantic ghost stories. Isn't it kind of sad, though?"

"How so?" Anthy questioned, over the continuous sound of ice crushing.

"I mean, the idea of that girl, that old woman, staying there all those years. I get that she loved it, with all the poetry she wrote, but being stuck in school forever seems pretty depressing, you know."

The ice machine suddendly stopped.

"Which flavor should I pick, I wonder?" Anthy asked herself.

Once her decision was made, she bought the little bowls of icy sweets to the table. Utena happily digged into her share and Chu-Chu climbed on the furniture, hoping to get feed. Anthy offered him a spoonfull, which made him shudder from ears to tail, face turning blue from the cold.

"Gives you the shivers, right?" Anthy smiled.

* * *

For some time, the agitation continued, until one morning, it stopped completly. The classroom was silent and dreary, worlds away from the high-spirited mood of the last few weeks. Anthy went to her chair and got her knitting needles out, as usual these days. Utena asked Wakaba what was going on.

"Haven't you heard? They found some girls trying to disguise themselves as the ghost, with a long, white dress and make-up. They tried to pretend they hadn't done anything yet but with one of them being a member of the newspaper club, they would have known where to look for, to get the rumor started. So it was pretty clear they were behind everything and now everyone's mad at having been fooled and want to forget the whole thing. It's all a big depressing mess."

While Utena both tried to cheer her up and note that she had warned her about getting too excited with those silly games, Anthy was putting the last touch to her work. She let out a little giggle of satisfaction as she spread out the woolen sweater to admire the name written in big letters on it. The colors clashed, but that was very much intended. Utena turned towards her to see the result.

"Oh no, Himemiya, it's way too huge now! Nanami is going to curse you to death if you ever so much as suggest it may be fitting her."

Anthy didn't answer, only smiling at the idea.

Wakaba skimmed through her half-finished poetry book with no enthusiasm, before giving it back to Anthy. She tapped a little rythm on the cover, then put it in her schoolbag. The teacher opening the door cut the few on-going conversations and classes started in a gloomy mood that would not lift for the rest of the day.

* * *

Like Wakaba had said, after that anticlimactic reveal, most of the involved students tried to act as if nothing had happened. Some were going as far as pretending that they hadn't believed in anything from the start and that the rumor itself hadn't been that interesting. After all, it wasn't even a scary story.

"I wonder if that's going to teach them a lesson, at least", Utena wondered on the way to their shoes lockers, at the end of another lukewarm day.

"But just like miss Juri said, it's something that happens every year."

Remembering that, Utena sighed. Nothing could be done, it seemed, against this need to occupy oneself and search for the excitement of something special. In their own ways, it was an activity all school students took part in. Soon, they would look for the next delicious event to bite into with renewed vigor.

As the evening sun colored the hallways in warm tones, shadows grew and Anthy stopped for a second to look at the extended silhouettes of passing students. They distorted into dancing figures on the beautifully decorated stone walls of Ohtori. Whispers were exchanged and she started moving again, to go back to her Engaged Duelist.

"Did you know? Did you know? I heard there's an alien hidding in our class!"


End file.
